Leaving Perth on Sunday 7th June 2015 felt like the beginning of the end. I was entering the last section of my Australian adventure and during the past couple of weeks I'd been reflecting on all of my experiences as well as feeling excited about the last couple of trips and ultimately returning home. A couple of nights I even struggled to get to sleep as so many memories and daydreams spun through my mind.
Sunday brought a day of travelling - two flights right across the country. Firstly from Perth to Melbourne and then a domestic connecting flight on to Hobart. I felt like a suspect at Perth security as my bag was searched again and again as the scanner picked up on a set of sewing needles and then the darning needle in my pencil case. Can you believe they weren't picked up on until my 10th internal flight!
On board the plane, I enjoyed having a window seat for both flights to absorb the changing landscape below - from fields to beaches, bays to ocean, and finally Melbourne by day and by night.
The day seemed never ending but by the time it was evening and time to sleep I just wasn't tired - pehaps the time difference was playing tricks and I seemed to read for hours before finally nodding off.
Monday 8th June 2015
With my body and mind still not adjusted to Eastern time and with the need to buy food supplies, my day didn't really get going until late morning but that didn't really matter because I was in the throws of an unexpected second long weekend in a row! It wasn't until I'd left the plane in Melbourne that I discovered that every state other than WA had a public holiday for the Queen's birthday today!
So I set off to explore Hobart. I spent the day in a state of confusion because I somehow managed to think vertical streets were horizontal and vice versa. Nonetheless I managed to wander through the shops before finding St David's Cathedral and Franklin Square (which I later discovered was just one block over from the hostel).
Battling against the fiercely strong wind I continued to Salamanca Place, passing through Parliament Square en route.
Arriving in Salamanca square I admired the numerous interesting sculptures and grabbed some lunch to eat outside.
Slowly wandering back to Salamanca Place, I meandered through various arty crafty shops and when I reached the main road I continued to Princes Park where I easily found one geocache and then fearlessly scaled this metal get to grab a second from the bushes above the high wall.
To gain a better view of the harbour I climbed the grassy hill of Princes Park and then returned once again to Salamanca Place, this time finding an 1833 sculpture which marked the beginning of a sculpture trail.
Impulsively I decided to follow the trail, crossing the road at the red postbox as directed and passing a Mary Poppins-esque house.
I managed to miss a sculpture but ended up at the waterfront. This photo really captures the effect of the gusty wind on the water.
Relying on my phone for a map and noticing the combination of a low battery and an unknown city, I decided to postpone the sculpture trail and return to the hostel where I found a TV adaptation of Esio Trot on ABC. Having explored a reasonable amount of the city I sheltered from the strong winds and later the rain for the rest of the evening.
Tuesday 9th June 2015
After another slow start, I began my day at TMAG - the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery - which was unexpectedly awesome! As I walked around I thought about my interest in museum education and how appealing it was as an art gallery and museum to learn in. I've included some interesting photos but may have to write another post about my thoughts on museum education here.
Hobart was unbelievably cold and I'd had a North Melbourne Kangaroos AFL scarf in my mind since the first time I'd seen them in September. Once I'd taken a short shopping trip I was cosy and warm in my wooly hat and scarf.
In the afternoon I decided to complete the sculpture trail I'd begun yesterday so walked around the foreshore and back to the 1833 sculpture which marked the beginning of the trail. All of the sculptures were numbers which held a story about their location but as it was raining I didn't stop to read them. I did photograph the descriptions though so at some point I'll return to this post and transcribe them.
I rained on and off during my hour long walk and I was wondering why on earth I was out in the rain when I noticed this double rainbow. The trail took me down to a jetty and it was really spectacular for the rain to clear, the cloud to descend and for the rainbows to slowly disappear.
As the end of the walk I descended I very steep hill into Errol Flynn reserve and the final sculpture.
Of course, what goes down must come up so I had quite a climb to return to the city but I took a different route, enjoyed some interesting views and certainly felt like I'd done my exercise for the day!
Back in the city I passed through the impressive St David's Park and spent some time hovering suspiciously next to a bush until the steady stream of pedestrians eased and I dived through a thigh high bush in an unsuccessful attempt to find a geocache. Luckily the Google street view car didn't pass a few minutes earlier to catch me!
Returning to the hostel I admired the varied architecture of Hobart.
Wednesday 10th June 2015
I'd planned on being up and out early to catch the 9:30 ferry but couldn't bring myself to get out of bed to my alarm so instead I was only just getting up at 9:30 and ended up rushing for the 11am Mona Roma 1 (MR-1) to the Museum is Old and New Art. Both of the MONA ferries were docked at Brooke Street Pier and their adornment set the scene for the rest of the day.
On board there was the option to buy tickets for the 'posh pit' where you were treated to canapés and drinks or 'sit on a sheep' in standard class. I chose the later which was considerably cheaper and luckily, although there were sheep to sit on, there were also regular seats!
Departing from Hobart's centre I was mesmerised by the snow topped Mount Wellington and soaked up views along the river during the 30 minute journey.
On arrival at MONA's jetty we were faced with 99 steps to the courtyard in front but at the top we were welcomed with a few stunning pieces of work, my favourite being Flatbed Truck, Trailer and Cement Truck by Wim Delvoye.
Inside the gallery, there were lots of unusual pieces of art and I have to say very few grabbed my attention but the whole place was very experiential. The galleries were laid out across 3 floors, each of which took your deeper underground. There was atmospheric music and puzzling mazes. To find out about the pieces of art there weren't information panels but each visitor was armed with an adapted Apple device which detected nearby pieces of art and gave relevant information. Amusingly the usual blurb was titled 'artwank'!
The two pieces I did particularly like were:
Snake by Sidney Nolan Which was 46m long, 9m high and made up of 1620 sheets - 108 x 15 grouped in 2x3 rectangles. It was partly inspired by Aborigonal 'Dreamtime'.
bit.fall by Julius Popp
Taken from the Apple device:
IDEAS Julius Popp thinks our brains are being changed by the age of communication technology. For the worse.
ART WANK bit.fall takes words from information sites on the Internet and briefly 'translates' them into drops of water as, in the artist's own words, 'a metaphor for the incessant flood of information we are exposed to'.
I really enjoyed the whole experience but as I said, I wasn't taken by the art so I'd finished looking within an hour so after a drink and a snack I explored outside and was keen to find the chapel. I was a very intricate and unusual structure.
While I waited for the next return ferry Iphotographed the views and as we departed I think we passed some accommodation options.
My day out at MONA wasn't at all what I had expected but it really was an adventure from start to finish and I understood why people travel to Hobart just for this experience.
At the end of the night, before you close your eyes, be content with what you've done and be proud of who you are.
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